First Sust. Bde. Soldiers gather around a makeshift sand table during a Warfighter Exercise June 26 at Fort Riley. Warfighter was designed to evaluate the brigade staff on the military decision-making process and bring them together as a cohesive group to enhance their mission command capabilities. (Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Manuel Torres-Cortes, 1st Sust. Bde.)

A mission to move more than
four million gallons of fuel and various other supplies to sustain the Army’s
war fighters during an armed conflict is no easy feat.

Vehicle breakdowns,
insurgent attacks on convoys and millions of internally displaced civilians
clogging the supply routes were just some of the scenario-based obstacles the 1st
Sustainment Brigade overcame during its recent Warfighter Exercise.

The “Durable” brigade was one
of 10 brigades evaluated in the U.S. Army’s Warfighter Exercise June 15 to 26
at Fort Riley. During the exercise, 1st Sust. Bde. Soldiers conducted theater
sustainment operations to support the main combat mission by providing fuel,
ammo, food and maintenance support.

“All you do in this
business is learn by your experiences,” Col. Robert A. Law III, 1st Sust. Bde.
commander, said. “I know how important it is when you’re at the tip of the spear
and need the supplies to fight the war.”

Warfighter was designed to evaluate
the brigade staff on the military decision-making process and bring Soldiers
together into a cohesive group to enhance their mission command capabilities.
It was composed of four days of active opposition, a one-day pause to discuss
lessons learned, four more days of active opposition and a final after-action
review. Preparation for the exercise was more than two years in the making.

“It’s critical to continue to
move supplies through the obstacles such as the terrain, the insurgents and
internally displaced civilians to get the supplies to the front lines,” Law
said. “The sustainers and the logisticians pushing out the supplies are just as
critical as the artilleryman, infantryman and tankers.”

“Your mission is to ensure the
customer receives the goods,” said retired Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, senior
mentor, Mission Command Training Program. “We must ensure that we get all the
enablers to help us accomplish our mission in this multi-dimensional fight.”

Every single convoy was a
combat operation, Wojdakowski said.

“The enemy is smart and we
have to keep moving forward in order to successfully sustain the force,” he
added.

Participating in the
exercise were about 2,500 service members from more than 20 units coming from
14 states. They included active-duty Army units from Fort Riley and Fort Sill, Oklahoma;
National Guard units from California, Colorado, Indiana, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi,
New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wyoming; and Army Reserve
units from California and Colorado.

“We started this exercise
with a certain level of understanding,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Tomeka O’Neal,
1st Sust. Bde.’s senior noncommissioned officer. “Now that the exercise is
complete, we achieved a higher level of proficiency to ensure that the Soldiers
on the ground get the supplies they need to accomplish their mission.”

MCTP’s mission is to
support the collective training of Army units as directed by the Chief of Staff
of the Army and scheduled by U.S. Army Forces Command in accordance with the
Army Force Generation process at worldwide locations in order to train leaders
and provide commanders the opportunity to train on mission command in unified
land operations.